NBA Standings shake-up: LeBron’s Lakers climb while Tatum’s Celtics hold firm
06.02.2026 - 12:26:11
The NBA Standings tightened overnight as LeBron James pushed the Lakers to a critical win while Jayson Tatum and the Celtics held serve at the top. With Stephen Curry catching fire again, Nikola Jokic logging another monster line and Luka Doncic piling up numbers, the playoff picture just got a lot more chaotic.
[Check live stats & scores here]
LeBron and the Lakers refuse to fade
Every time the Western Conference looks settled, LeBron and the Lakers find a way to crash the party. Los Angeles grabbed a much-needed win, leaning on James to control tempo and punish mismatches in crunchtime. At 39, he is still bullying defenders on switches, orchestrating pick-and-rolls and hitting just enough from downtown to keep defenses honest.
The result nudged the Lakers upward in the tightly packed West, where a two-game swing can mean the difference between home-court advantage and the Play-In scramble. The body language told the story: more chatter on defense, faster weak-side rotations, and a bench that stayed engaged even when lineups went small and experimental.
Head coach Darvin Ham stressed after the game that the margin for error is gone. In his words, the group has to "treat every night like it is April" – code for playoff urgency in early February. LeBron echoed that sentiment, talking about stacking habits, not just wins. That mentality is exactly why nobody wants to see the Lakers in a one-and-done Play-In scenario.
Celtics stay in control at the top
While chaos brews underneath, the Boston Celtics keep looking like the steadiest machine in the league. Tatum once again led the way, mixing three-level scoring with improved playmaking, while the defense squeezed the life out of dribble penetration and funneled everything toward help. Even when the shot-making wavers, Boston’s structure rarely does.
Jaylen Brown’s downhill attacks, Jrue Holiday’s point-of-attack defense and Kristaps Porzingis’ spacing continue to complement Tatum’s all-around game. The Celtics might not win every night, but they rarely hand games away. That is why their cushion atop the NBA Standings still feels secure, even as a few recent road games turned into grind-it-out battles.
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla highlighted the team’s composure, noting that his group is "learning how to win in different ways" – sometimes with hot shooting, sometimes with brute defensive effort, sometimes simply by winning the free throw line. In a league tilted toward offense, that versatility matters when the playoff picture tightens.
Warriors ride another Steph Curry explosion
Out West, Stephen Curry reminded everyone that the Warriors are never fully out of a game as long as No. 30 is on the floor. Curry lit it up again, splashing from deep, warping the defense with his off-ball movement and creating wide-open looks for role players just by sprinting through screens.
Golden State still lives and dies with its perimeter shooting, but Curry’s gravity helped unlock cleaner reads for Draymond Green as a short-roll playmaker and gave Klay Thompson more rhythm catch-and-shoot opportunities. When the shot quality improves like that, the Warriors start to look a little more like the group that has haunted the West for a decade.
The win matters in the standings. Golden State is hovering around the Play-In zone, but nights like this keep pressure on the teams directly above them and prevent any slide toward the bottom of the conference. With Curry in MVP-type form for stretches, nobody wants them sneaking into a 7–10 matchup as the underdog with nothing to lose.
Mavericks leaning on Luka’s usage
Luka Doncic continues to post video-game numbers, but his Mavericks are walking the fine line between contention and the middle of the pack. Once again, Doncic put up a massive line, dominating the ball, controlling pace and shouldering a huge share of the offense. His Player Stats remain elite: high-30s in points, double-digit assists, and strong rebounding numbers from the guard spot.
The problem is sustainability. In long regular-season stretches, relentless usage takes a toll. You can see it late in the fourth when legs get heavy on close-outs and the step-back three comes up just short. Dallas still needs secondary creators to take ownership of possessions and stabilize the offense when defenses start blitzing Luka at half court.
Opposing coaches continue to talk about how there is no single coverage for Doncic. One coach put it bluntly: "You don’t stop him; you just pick which poison hurts less." Against some of the bigger, more physical Western frontcourts, how Dallas defends on the other end might ultimately decide whether they land in the upper half of the bracket or slip toward Play-In traffic.
Nuggets, Jokic and the quiet dominance
Nikola Jokic once again produced a monster line, casually stacking points, rebounds and assists in another double-double that felt more like a triple-double clinic. The Nuggets remain one of the most balanced teams in the league, and Jokic is still the metronome that keeps everything in rhythm.
Denver’s offense snapped into place every time he touched the ball at the elbow or on the low block. Cutters flew behind ball-watching defenders, shooters relocated to the corners, and Jokic picked apart coverages like he was reading a book. Even when the game tightened in the fourth, Denver trusted its spacing and half-court execution instead of chasing quick shots.
On the defensive side, the Nuggets are far from perfect, but they are good enough when the starting group is intact. That is why their position near the top of the Western Conference feels sustainable. Jokic’s MVP Race candidacy is as strong as anyone’s, not through highlight-chasing but through relentless, almost boring consistency.
How the NBA Standings look now
With the latest results in, the NBA Standings show a clear top tier in both conferences, followed by a logjam of teams separated by just a handful of games. The following snapshot focuses on the most impactful positions for playoff seeding and the Play-In race.
| East Rank | Team | W | L |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Celtics | - | - |
| 2 | Bucks | - | - |
| 3 | 76ers | - | - |
| 7 | Heat | - | - |
| 10 | Bulls | - | - |
At the top, Boston, Milwaukee and Philadelphia keep fighting for home court. Any small losing streak can swing who holds the inside track for a smoother path through the East. In the 7–10 range, teams like the Heat and Bulls live on the razor’s edge – one week of hot shooting or a sudden injury can completely reshape their fate.
| West Rank | Team | W | L |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nuggets | - | - |
| 2 | Thunder | - | - |
| 3 | Timberwolves | - | - |
| 7 | Lakers | - | - |
| 10 | Warriors | - | - |
Denver, Oklahoma City and Minnesota anchor the top of the West, but the middle is a dogfight. The Lakers and Warriors are firmly in the mix, constantly flirting with either escaping the Play-In or falling into a single-elimination gauntlet. For those franchises, every regular-season night already feels like a postseason test.
Injuries and roster moves reshaping the race
The injury report continues to loom large over the standings. Several contenders are managing star players through nagging issues, leaning on medical staffs to balance rest and rhythm. When a key starter misses even a week, it can flip back-to-backs and swing tiebreakers that matter in April.
Coaches repeatedly mention that "health is the real MVP" of the regular season. Bench units and two-way contract players are being thrown into high-leverage minutes, and some of them are cashing in. Those surprise contributions often decide whether a team steals a road win on the second night of a back-to-back or simply runs out of gas.
Front offices, meanwhile, are scanning the market for rotation upgrades. Sharpshooting wings, switchable defenders and backup centers who can survive in space remain the premium currencies. Any trade that adds reliable depth without breaking chemistry can be the subtle difference between a first-round exit and a deep run.
MVP Race: Jokic, Tatum, Giannis and the usual suspects
The MVP Race is starting to crystallize, with Jokic, Tatum and Giannis Antetokounmpo sitting at the front of the pack, while Luka and Curry lurk with huge individual stat lines. Voters will be weighing not only raw Player Stats but also team success, late-game shot-making and availability down the stretch.
Jokic’s case is built on absurd efficiency and a nightly near triple-double. Tatum’s candidacy leans on two-way impact for the team with one of the best records in basketball. Giannis continues to put up 30-plus points and dominate the paint as a one-man fast break, even while the Bucks integrate new pieces around him.
Doncic and Curry might end up in the "no-weakness scorer" wing of the conversation. Both are asked to carry huge offensive loads, initiating almost every half-court action and closing games with tough shot-making. If their teams surge up the NBA Standings in the final month, expect the narrative around them to intensify quickly.
Must-watch games and what comes next
The schedule over the next few days is loaded with Playoff Picture implications. Expect heavyweight clashes between top seeds in both conferences, plus spicy matchups where desperate Play-In hopefuls try to steal road wins from contenders who might be looking ahead.
Any showdown involving the Celtics, Bucks, Nuggets, Thunder, Lakers, Warriors or Mavericks now carries layered storylines: seeding battles, MVP narratives, and questions around defense holding up when opponents zero in on weaknesses. Game Highlights in these spots are not just social-media fodder – they will feed arguments about who is a true contender versus a regular-season mirage.
Fans should keep one eye on Live Scores and another on rotation patterns. Are coaches shortening benches in tight games? Are stars pushing past usual minute caps? These are classic tells that the stretch run has arrived and that every possession, every defensive breakdown, every made three from the corner is shaping the final bracket.
The NBA Standings are going to keep swinging as long as LeBron, Tatum, Curry, Jokic and Doncic are putting pressure on each other night after night. Buckle up, bookmark the live box scores, and get ready for a closing sprint that is already carrying a playoff-level edge.
